Track

The researchers explored three questions: How do products introduced during recessions perform relative to ones launched during booms? Does the severity of the recession affect performance? And does the timing within the recession matter? They analyzed 8,981 product launches in the UK in 20 fast-moving consumer goods categories from 1995 to 2012, along with 1,071 product launches in the U.S. auto industry from 1946 to 2008. They gathered information on UK launches from AiMark, a Netherlands-based marketing organization, and collected data on U.S. launches from sources including Automotive News and the New Encyclopedia of Motor Cars. Finally, they looked at data from the UK Office for National Statistics and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis to track recessions in each economy as well as publicly available data on each product’s sales, market share, and life span.